RD River City Brewing restaurant proposed

Ken_FSU · June 05, 2021, 10:59:14 AM

Related looks to be eyeing additional opportunity in Jax as well.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2021/06/03/related-azure-jax-beach.html

Tacachale · June 05, 2021, 02:29:37 PM

Nice!

Ken_FSU · June 21, 2021, 05:45:22 PM

Per the Biz Journal, Related is scouting sites for workforce housing downtown.

Ken_FSU · January 25, 2023, 06:15:04 PM

River City Brewing demolished.

Project appears dead.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2023/01/25/jacksonville-ends-deal-with-related-group-for-downtown-apartments/69839733007/

Great work, Jax!

Going to be hilarious if we end up spending $10 million in taxpayer money to rebuy the land from Related.

Absolutely unbelievable.

JaGoaT · January 25, 2023, 06:23:15 PM

A BIGGER AND BETTER OPPORTUNITY IS ABOUT TO PRESENT ITSELF

heights unknown · January 25, 2023, 06:58:19 PM

Quote from: JaGoaT on January 25, 2023, 06:23:15 PM
A BIGGER AND BETTER OPPORTUNITY IS ABOUT TO PRESENT ITSELF

Really now? Do you know something that we don't? So.......why don't you NOT TELL US ABOUT IT.

heights unknown · January 25, 2023, 07:00:52 PM

Quote from: Ken_FSU on January 25, 2023, 06:15:04 PM
River City Brewing demolished.

Project appears dead.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2023/01/25/jacksonville-ends-deal-with-related-group-for-downtown-apartments/69839733007/

Great work, Jax!

Going to be hilarious if we end up spending $10 million in taxpayer money to rebuy the land from Related.

Absolutely unbelievable.

Maybe JaGOAT was right; maybe there's something bigger, better, (and taller?) on the horizon for this piece of real estate; but I don't think so as DIA (Lori) says she left the door open for them to come back with something else in the future.

thelakelander · January 25, 2023, 07:04:51 PM

Quote from: Ken_FSU on January 25, 2023, 06:15:04 PM
River City Brewing demolished.

Project appears dead.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2023/01/25/jacksonville-ends-deal-with-related-group-for-downtown-apartments/69839733007/

Great work, Jax!

Going to be hilarious if we end up spending $10 million in taxpayer money to rebuy the land from Related.

Absolutely unbelievable.

Unfortunate situation. Not all proposals materialize. In fact, most don't. One of the reasons we always push keeping and adding to what you already have. Our track record of knocking functional things down and replacing them with something better is pretty bad. We should get out that line of business.

For the foreseeable future, we've replaced a functional riverfront restaurant with a vacant blighted lot. Related really has no reason to sell. They can sit on this thing for years. Hopefully, we can learn from this.

duvaltilidie · January 25, 2023, 07:11:14 PM

Quote from: thelakelander on January 25, 2023, 07:04:51 PM
Hopefully, we can learn from this.

Will they really, though? All this money poured into Friendship Fountain and with MOSH leaving soon.. what's left? Decades and decades of failure in this city.

Ken_FSU · January 25, 2023, 07:28:45 PM

Lori Boyer isn't the right fit to lead the DIA.

I mean that with no disrespect toward her personally, and recognize that she's done some good blocking and tackling with beefing up the historic preservation fund.

She just doesn't operate with any urgency, and the vast majority of her high-profile RFPs have gone up in flames. Private development at critically important Landing, Ford on Bay, Berkman II, Laura Street Trio, and Related sites is YEARS away. She has supported the rushed demolition of active riverfront businesses at the Landing and River City and allowed these properties to sit vacant for YEARS and is toothless when a developer illegally tore down the old Greyhound station to replace it with a parking lot. She's working on a Convention Center plan in a vacuum that necessitates a billion dollar jail relocation before a dime is spent on the CC. Public projects at Friendship Park and the Times-Union Center have dragged on for YEARS. The retail corridor program has brought almost no new business to the CBD. There's still no true master plan.

Despite Florida absolutely booming since the pandemic, the only substantial investment in downtown Jax under her watch has come from local developers like VyStar, Corner Lot, JWB, Vestcor, and Iguana.

Keep her in the DIA to work on legislation and to green stamp 75% REV grants after 12 months of glacial negotiations if you want, but this job demands someone with a proven track record of revitalizing major urban areas elsewhere in America. Depressing to think what the guy from Kansas City could have done had we gone thought big instead of small when filling the position.

WarDamJagFan · January 25, 2023, 08:28:30 PM

Time for the clown army which invaded The Bank for last year's final home game to make a trip over to the DIA's office. Half of the entire downtown riverfront is empty nothingness. The Jags didn't even Jag this hard.

jaxoNOLE · January 25, 2023, 10:44:43 PM

When a functional, occupied building is being demolished by a private developer, there should be liquidated damages in the deal to discourage this exact thing from happening. If the developer balks at such a provision, it tells you how confident they are (not) in executing the agreed-upon timeline.

The city inflicted the Landing debacle on themselves as owners and (momentary) operators, now would-be developers, of the property. Now they've subsidized Related doing the exact same thing. At a minimum, you'd like to see some righteous indignation on the part of the DIA just to pretend they've got a backbone. The quotes in the article read as a green-light to future partners: "If you get cold feet, no big deal--feel free to break our deal and hey, maybe you can come back for an even better deal later!"

I guess at least now the city will be free to tear down and ruin the old MOSH site of its own volition, since the cancelation of the deal means Related should no longer get a say as to what happens at that site. Maybe the fountain will be done by then and we can have a few acres of paid surface parking to go see it?

jaxoNOLE · January 25, 2023, 10:48:14 PM

Quote from: WarDamJagFan on January 25, 2023, 08:28:30 PM
Time for the clown army which invaded The Bank for last year's final home game to make a trip over to the DIA's office. Half of the entire downtown riverfront is empty nothingness. The Jags didn't even Jag this hard.

Maybe we can move the Orleck around strategically to block the holes in the skyline?

thelakelander · January 25, 2023, 10:55:18 PM

Quote from: Ken_FSU on January 25, 2023, 07:28:45 PM
Lori Boyer isn't the right fit to lead the DIA.

I'm not making an argument either way about the DIA but wondering what your thoughts would be.

I you were in her position, how would you go about resolving the core Related project issue (project not being economically feasible) that appears to have killed it? More extensions? Additional city incentives?

thelakelander · January 25, 2023, 10:57:21 PM

Quote from: jaxoNOLE on January 25, 2023, 10:48:14 PM
Quote from: WarDamJagFan on January 25, 2023, 08:28:30 PM
Time for the clown army which invaded The Bank for last year's final home game to make a trip over to the DIA's office. Half of the entire downtown riverfront is empty nothingness. The Jags didn't even Jag this hard.

Maybe we can move the Orleck around strategically to block the holes in the skyline?

That might not be a bad idea. That boat will struggle sitting in the middle of a dirt field by itself. It was already a risky project but we're a few years away from a park being constructed and completed at the Shipyards. At least at the Related site there's a paved parking lot and it's next to MOSH (not moving for a few years) and Friendship Fountain.